


Complicated Mess

by dragonshost



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: M/M, Post-Tartaros Arc (Fairy Tail)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonshost/pseuds/dragonshost
Summary: Jellal is a complicated little mess of a person but so is his relationship with Cobra.
Relationships: Cobra | Erik/Jellal Fernandes
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	Complicated Mess

“There are good guys,” Erik acknowledged. “You’re just not one of them.”

Jellal reeled from the harsh words, spoken with all the concern most people afforded funny shapes in the clouds. For a long moment, he stared at Erik, trying to decipher the odd dragon slayer’s words - picking them apart in his head and analyzing each one as if figuring out which wire to cut on a bomb. When he came up empty, Jellal finally concluded that Erik was not, in fact, playing a prank on him and meant every word. But without - it seemed - any malice behind it.

Erik, for his part, picked at his nails and calmly waited for Jellal to gather himself into something resembling coherency. Trying to address every little direction Jellal’s brain could spin off to was an exhausting prospect, and Erik didn’t like expending more effort than strictly necessary on the man if he could help it.

Finally, Jellal put himself together enough to ask, “If you think that, then why follow me at all?”

Rolling his eye, Erik flicked away a tiny bit of dirt he’d managed to pry loose. Then he indicated his friends with a jerk of his head. “For them, obviously.” When Jellal’s expression failed to turn to one of comprehension, Erik sighed. Did he really have to hold Jellal’s hand through this? “Look, I’m not a moron. I’ve heard enough of genuinely good people’s thoughts - and killed enough of those same people - to know that you’re not one. But I’m not a good person either, so it doesn’t bother me so much. It’s not like our prospects are great either. We can’t exactly blend into a crowd. This is as good an option as any.”

“And them?” Jellal asked.

“Them?” Erik snorted. “They’re intent on finding some good in themselves, and they’re determined to follow you to reach that goal. I don’t know if it’s even possible, honestly. But so long as they’re here, I’ll keep walking beside you.”

 _Beside you._ For some reason, those words spoke to Jellal. Ultear had led, Jellal had followed. In the absence of Ultear, Meredy now followed Jellal. And now so did the former members of Oracion Seis.

But Erik did not follow. He walked alongside.

That meant something to him. He wasn’t sure what, just yet. But it did.

“Thank you, Erik,” Jellal told him.

Again, Erik rolled his eye. “Whatever. When’s dinner?”

As Jellal lined out the plan for the night’s food and watch schedule, Erik continued to listen beyond the man’s immediate words and thoughts.

Jellal was a conflicted little mess, but a fascinating one. So long as he felt like it, Erik would continue down this path. Of his own volition.


End file.
